The Cowichan Valley Capitals were crushed 7-1 by the Victoria Grizzlies on Tuesday night.
“We weren’t there,” head coach Bob Beatty said. “We were mishandling pucks. We weren’t winning races. We weren’t organizing in the defensive zone very well.”
The Caps made it through a scoreless first period and trailed just 2-0 after the second, but completely fell apart in the third period.
“We totally let our goaltender hang,” Beatty said. “I’m not very pleased about it, at all. It was a real slap in the face.”
Goalie Storm Phaneuf made 36 saves in the defeat, while Kade Kehoe scored the Capitals’ lone goal, unassisted, on the powerplay. By and large, Beatty was disappointed with the entire team.
“I can’t say there were too many players that played to their potential,” he said.
The loss was made even more frustrating by the fact that the Caps were coming off two strong performances last weekend.
“I was really happy with the way we played on the weekend, but we just can’t seem to keep our feet on the gas,” Beatty said. “I’m not sure if they think that if they play good for a couple of games it’s going to maintain itself automatically, but it appears so. I don’t think they realize they have to sacrifice every night to have success. And that’s on game days and non-game days.”
Beatty acknowledged his team will have to do some soul-searching before this weekend’s home-and-home series with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs. The teams will hit the ice in Duncan on Friday at 7 p.m. and Port Alberni on Saturday.
“It’s always a tough game against Alberni,” Beatty said. “It’s always a battle. They seem to bring their best against us. We’ve had some pretty good games against them.”